Royals face Union County Friday

HAGERSTOWN — He’s Eastern Hancock’s leading scorer, but Isaiah McCormick is more than happy to share the ball and play defense.

Wednesday against Hagerstown in the Class 2A Sectional 41 quarterfinals, McCormick paced a deep, commited Eastern Hancock group to a 68-55 victory.

Five Royals (16-5) scored at least nine points, led by McCormick’s 17, and the EH bench trumped its counterpart 20-5.

“It’s really nice to have multiple guys who can step up at any given night when one of us isn’t playing our best,” said McCormick, a senior guard.

There weren’t many “off nights” to be found in the Royals’ attack Wednesday. They shot 50 percent from the field and sank 15-of-18 free throws in the fourth quarter to advance to Friday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal against Union County (18-4).

The only shaky part of Eastern Hancock’s collective game was the first quarter, as Hagerstown (12-9) raced to leads of 15-7 and 17-11.

Dustin Davidson, though, came off the bench to spark a 13-2 EH blitz to begin the second quarter and the visitors led the rest of the evening. Davidson, a senior averaging 3.1 points, registered seven of his nine points in the quarter and the Royals were in front 30-26 at halftime.

“Dustin came in and gave us a big, big boost in the second quarter after Hagerstown got off to a decent start,” EH coach Aaron Spaulding said. “And it’s been that way all year; somebody steps up, whether it be on the bench or a starter. Dustin gave us a big boost, and we had some other guys come in and do some nice things as well.”

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